Cenlar Doesn’t Know Who They Send Bills To, or Why
Cenlar is a mortgage servicer. On their website, Cenlar FSB claims to be “the nations leading loan servicing provider.” What’s more, they say they have been…”actively engaged in mortgage loan servicing for more than 40 years.”
Cenlar wants you to know that they are big guys. And that they know what they are doing. Or so you’d think.
Cenlar FSB, the nation’s leading loan servicing provider, has been actively engaged in mortgage loan servicing and subservicing as a core business for more than 40 years.
Last summer, Cenlar upset two of my former clients. They sent bills Matthew and Christine, saying they were $31,000 past due for a second mortgage on a foreclosed house, in Michigan, that had been wiped out in bankruptcy back in 2008.
Matthew and Christine were understandably upset. They thought this had been taken care of, now it was coming back to haunt them.
They wanted to know if I had messed up on something when I handled thier bankruptcy. I told them I’d take care of it, and that it looked to me like Cenlar didn’t know what they were doing.
Now everybody make mistakes. But I promise my bankruptcy clients that if an old debt pops back up, I’ll still protect their rights. Even if it’s seven years later. So I wrote up court papers saying Cenlar had violated the bankruptcy discharge, by trying to collect a discharged debt. And that Cenlar violated the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act, trying to collect a debt that wasn’t legally owed. I asked for a $1000 penalty.
I expected Cenlar to say, sorry, our mistake, but it was an accident, so no penalty.
Instead Cenlar denied knowledge of the whole thing!
Cenlar said they didn’t know who Matthew was, or where he lived. (Even though they sent him the bill.)
Cenlar said they didn’t know who Christine was. (They sent her the same bill.)
They said they didn’t know whether the bill was for the property in Michigan. (The bill had the Michigan property address right on it; now Cenlar says they don’t know if that’s right?!)
And that they didn’t know whether the house had been foreclosed!
That’s not all
Cenlar even refused to admit they were the people who sent the bills to Matthew and Christine.
We don’t have to tell you, they said, whether we sent those bills. You can look at the bills, they told me and the Judge, and figure out for yourself if it was us.
(Now it would be one things to say, that’s not our bill, Matthew and Christine faked it. But to say, we don’t have to tell you whether that’s our bill. Come on, guys?!)
Cenlar’s Cute Answer May Not Help Them
I guess Cenlar thinks this kind of B.S. makes them look clever, but actually they may have dug themselves in deeper.
They have said we don’t know who they send bills to, or what we send bills for.
Does a mortgage company want to put that in writing? To a Judge? They just did!
And on the way to pleading stupidity, they also admitted another violation of the FDCPA. The FDCPA provides a $1000 penalty for harrassment, abuse and unfair methods to collect a debt.
Sending a bill to people you don’t know for a debt you don’t know about–that’s pretty clearly unfair harassment and abuse. Another $1000 penalty.
I’ll Keep You Posted
This case is in the US District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia.
That Court is known as the “rocket docket.” The Judges there say they run the fastest Federal Court in America.
By the end of the summer, Cenlar will have to explain themselves in more detail. Will they stick to this BS of not knowing anything? Or will they come up with a different excuse? I’ll let you know.
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